


Good God, Please Help These Boys

by Gigapoodle



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Dumb Boys In Space, Fluff, M/M, PINING KEITH, Shiro doesn't know how he got stuck in this mess, Voltron Secret Santa 2016, background shallura - Freeform, pining lance, someone please help him
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-24
Updated: 2016-12-24
Packaged: 2018-09-11 18:21:46
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,770
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9001462
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gigapoodle/pseuds/Gigapoodle
Summary: Keith and Lance have been pining after each other for months. Their hopeless asses both turn to one person in their time of need so they can whine about how pretty the other one is.Shiro didn't sign up for this when he joined Voltron.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [craig.txt](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=craig.txt).



> Hey y'all! So I got the lovely @craigtxt for my Secret Santa and they loved Klance and Lance and cuteness so I came up with this idea. Happy holidays to everyone and I hope you enjoy the fic!~

“I hate him, Shiro.”

Shiro turns away from the papers to his desk and sees Keith, face down on his bedroom floor, looking about two seconds away from allowing his soul to ascend from his shriveled, miserable body.

He bites the inside of his cheek to suppress a giggle and pushes his chair back from the desk, internally rolling his eyes. “I’m pretty sure having a crush on someone is the opposite of hating them, Keith.”

“But I hate him,” Keith protests weakly, waving his arms haplessly in the air in front of him. “He’s annoying, and his jokes are dumb, and he’s too loud, and-“

“And you have a crush on him. You wouldn’t be sitting face down on my floor for the third time this month if you hated him, buddy.”

Shiro almost relishes in the muffled, resigned groan that comes from Keith, before he curls up farther into a ball and away from him.

“He asked me if I was a campfire.” Keith stares, hard, at the edge of Shiro’s bed, bottom lip curled tight in thought.

“Why did he ask you that?”

“Because he said I was hot and he wanted _s’mooooore_.” Keith buries his face in his hands as he slurs the last syllable, utterly broken beyond repair.

Shiro leaned into his palm with a smirk, eyebrow raised. “And how did you respond?”

“I told him he was stupid and ran here.” The voice is muffled with embarrassment and resignation, Keith refusing to look up from his gloved palms.

“Oh, Keith.” Shiro moves from his chair and sits on the floor next to Keith, patting him on the back of his shoulder blade. “That’s not how you’re supposed to respond if you like someone.”

He can almost feel the eye-roll that Keith gives behind his palms. “But I don’t like him. I _hate him_. And I want him and his stupid dimples to be shot into space forever.”

“Alright buddy,” Shiro murmurs half-heartedly, giving Keith another stout pat on the shoulder. For a moment, he considers the closed-off body under his palm, wrapped tight like a cobra ready to strike, and he’s almost downright amused. Keith, arrogant, broody Keith, who could outpilot the best and defeat entire Galra fleets without so much breaking a sweat, was cowering on his bedroom floor over a _boy_. And God, if Shiro is too weak _not_ to chuckle at the thought.

“Don’t laugh at me,” Keith hisses, all venom and no bite, curling up tighter into his little angsty ball. “I’ve never done anything like this before, Shiro, I don’t know what to _do_. I hate him and his cocky smile but I also wanna take his stupid face and just-“

“Nope, not gonna listen to that.” Shiro slaps his metallic hand over Keith’s mouth before he can finish the sentence. “You know Lance is just flirting with you, right? Why don’t you try flirting back? Throw a pick-up line right back at him. That will show him you’re interested.”

Keith crosses his arms in a feigned pout, eyebrows creased way too deep for a conversation about crushes. When he doesn’t speak, Shiro moves his palm off of his mouth, giving his hair a little ruffle before fully pulling back.

“I don’t know any pick-up lines. I don’t even know what _his_ mean half of the time, Shiro.” His voice was meek, reawakening Shiro to just how vulnerable Keith was being right now, and he almost felt bad. _Almost._

But then he remembered that one time Keith ‘accidentally’ locked him in the training room with Allura for two hours, and his guilt morphed into mischievousness.

With newfound glee, Shiro looked down upon the pining ball of Keith next to him. “Hey Keith,” Shiro grinned, Cheshire and sly, patting his back with resolution. “I think I’ve got just the pick-up line for you.”

 

\--

 

Shiro was woken up the next day by shrieking, followed by a flailing body thrown onto his bed.

“ _SHIRO! SHIRO! CODE RED! EMERGENCY!_ _OH MY GOD! OH MY-“_

 _“_ God, Lance, could you have ran into my room screaming _after_ I had woken up?” The automatic lights burned bright in Shiro’s sleep-depreived eyes, and hid vision slowly accustomed itself to the lank figure perched over his chest, still flailing his arms wildly.

“You don’t understand Shiro!” Lance leaned forward, eyes dilated like a madman, near hysterical as he gripped Shiro’s head in his shaking palms. “Keith tried _flirting with me_! He used a _pick-up line_! Everything is falling apart!”

The words slowly processed through Shiro’s groggy brain as he slapped Lance’s hands away, rubbing his eyes blearily. “Keith flirted with you? What? Why? What did you do this time?”

“Nothing! I didn’t do anything-“

Shiro raised an eyebrow at him, and Lance did everything in his power not to be offended by the gesture. “Ok fine, I know I say that every time but seriously—he just--“

In a dramatic move, Lance flopped backwards onto Shiro, sprawling across his body with a palm against his own forehead. “He _flirted_ with me Shiro! Never once has he ever done that before! And the line he used just—oh my god. Oh my god.”

The pieces finally clicked in Shiro’s mind and his vision sharpened, a sly grin now tugging at the corners of his mouth. “Oh? And what line did he use?”

Lance slumped back into Shiro, allowing a long, drawn-out sigh to slip from him. “ _I’m no weatherman, but you can expect more than a few inches tonight._ ” His palms slid down his face, tugging the skin down with him. “He told me a pick-up line about boning me. Oh my god. _Oh my god_. I think I’m going to die, Shiro. This is it. This is the end.”

“What’s so bad about that line?” Shiro bit back, a little wounded, before he shook himself back to clarity. “I mean, isn’t it good that he used a line on you in the first place? Clearly that means he likes you. Maybe you can finally tell him how you really feel.”

“Nuh-uh, no way, Shiro, buddy pal,” Lance shot back up, rambling incoherently, punctuating his words with his moving hands. “He’s _mocking_ me. I know it. He’s just trying to mess with me. God.” His arms fell to his sides, suddenly looking somber.  “Of course he would, that jerk.”

“I think you’ve misread the situation,” Shiro interjected, now wide awake and fully aware of situation that was falling apart in front of him. “The pick-up lines are probably a little too roundabout for Keith. Maybe you should just compliment him for once?”

Lance jerked back, almost disbelieving. “ _Compliment_ him? What is there to even compliment? Certainly not that _hair_ -“

“Lance.” Shiro shot daggers at him, effectively shutting him up. “There’s plenty of things about Keith that you can compliment, and you know it. Otherwise you wouldn’t be freaking out in my room at god knows what time it is right now because he told you a pick-up line.”

And just like that, Lance was crossing his arms, pouting childishly, just like someone had done in his room just hours ago. Shiro would have laughed at the déjà vu if he wasn’t so damn tired.

“Fine. I’ll give him a compliment.” He turned away, still pouting, but slowly softening up, kicking his feet off the side of the bed. “But if this whole compliment business backfires on me, it’s on you.”

Shiro shrugged and yawned into his prosthetic. “Yeah, sure, fine. Now get out of my room. I need to sleep before Allura surprise drills us tomorrow morning.”

“What?” Lance turned back to him, mouth open wide. “You _know_ about the surprise drills? Dude you have to tell me about when-”

Before he could even finish the sentence, Shiro kicked him out of his room, locking the door shut this time.

 

\--

 

When Shiro walked into his room two nights later, fresh out of the shower and ready for a post-workout nap, he found Keith face-down on his floor, groaning incoherently.

“Really Keith? We have to do this _now_?”

Keith barely nudged his face up, just enough to give Shiro the most ferocious, most pitiful glare he’s ever seen in his life.

“He told me I had a nice butt.”

Shiro froze in his tracks, holding the towel close to his hip, staring at Keith with disbelief.

“He—what? He said that?”

“ _A nice butt_ ,” Keith repeated, before planting his face firmly into the ground, groaning once more.And God, if Shiro didn't feel absolutely _done_ at that moment.

“I am _not_ doing this right now. Nope.” Shiro grabbed Keith by the collar of his jacket and dragged him out of his room, dropping him off at the wall before stomping back into the darkness of his room.

 _‘He thinks my butt is nice_ ’ was all Shiro heard before the door slammed shut behind him.

 

Shiro leaned back against the metal frame of the door and sighed into his hands.

_They’re supposed to defeat an entire 10,000 year old empire, but they can’t even handle a damn compliment from their crush._

_Good God, please help these boys._

\--

 

It’s been three days since either of them have come to him for consolation. Finally, _finally_ , Shiro feels like he can peacefully settle in his room, maybe catch up on some books that he’s been backlogging for some time now-

“ _Shiiiiiirooooo_.” A familiar whine brought him back to his terrible reality, where Lance was stretched out on his bed, forearms shielding his eyes from the world. “He’s been avoiding me all day. I don’t even know what I did this time, he just runs away whenever I try to approach him, and _I can’t take it anymore_.”

Shiro sat himself at his desk chair with an indignant huff. “You know, if you just told him how you felt, that would solve all of these problems.”

“Impossible.” Lance kicked at the ceiling, allowing a low whine to escape from him. “In order for me to do that, I have to be 100% positive that he would like me back. And Keith absolutely, without a doubt, decidedly does _not-“_

 _“Oh my god.”_ When Lance turned to look at the cause for interruption, he found Shiro banging his head against his desk, over and over and over again. “ _I can’t believe this. I cannot believe this. Oh my god._ ”

“Dude, what the hell are you talking about?” Lance halted his kicking and leaned forward, eyeing Shiro with confusion. Never once had he ever seen Shiro, their trusted leader of Voltron, in such a state of ultimate frustration, watching as the constant _thud_ of Shiro’s banging head became rhythmic.

Shiro continued on his tirade for another minute, sending silent pleas to God to save him from this horrible pining mess, before he let up and leaned back in his chair, breathing heavily. “Lance, this needs to stop. You have to tell him, despite whether or not you think he likes you back or not. You can’t keep moping around like this.”

Lance looked at him with puppy dog eyes and a quivering lip, not even close to breaking Shiro’s fed-up resolve. “But-“

“If you don’t tell him in the next week, I’m gonna tell him.” Shiro leaned close, close enough that the heated tension of his breath fanned out across Lance’s collarbone, sending shivers down his spine. “Remember when you convinced me to try and flirt with Allura? Remember how well that went down? Imagine how well it will go down when I tell Keith all about your crush.”

Shiro’s eyes looked just a little too delirious, a little too crazed, and it shook Lance. He scrambled away from him, clinging to the bedsheets for dear life, sweat beginning to bead on his forehead.

“Ok buddy, I’ll--I’ll tell him, just calm down, maybe drink some tea, think about a nice bowl of mac n’ cheese, and _relax_.”

“Oh, that sounds great.” Shiro smiled, all previous tension disappearing in a flash, before he snapped his fingers towards the door. “But I’m gonna need you to get out of here before I can do that.”

“Right. Yep! Alright Shiro, you have a good night, alright, yep buddy.” Lance kept rambling as he bolted towards the door, overly unnerved, feet fumbling on their way to the entrance of the bedroom. “I’ll make sure I tell Keith, _ha ha ha,_ have a good one, see you tomorrow-“

The door slammed shut and for once, Shiro finally had some peace and quiet. _Finally_.

 

\--

 

Ten minutes later, Keith barged in, wide-eyed and panicked.

“Shiro, I’ve gotta talk to you, look – I’ve been avoiding Lance all day, because I don’t know what to do, he—“

Shiro slammed his head into his desk, feeling no pain as a splash of pinkish red spread across his forehead. Keith immediately stalled, staring at the back of Shiro’s head, thoroughly confused and slightly terrified.

“Hey Shiro? Are you…..ok?”

Shiro’s head shot back, staring at Keith the most piercing, fed-up gaze that stabbed right into his soul.

“Keith. Now you listen to me. You are going to tell Lance about your crush by next week. This is a thing that you are going to do. Do you understand?”

Keith stood at the doorway, hands still in the air, watching the way Shiro’s face turned stony, gaze locked like a statue, no emotion on his unusually calm face.

“What are you talking about Shiro? Of course I’m not gonna tell him, why would I-“

“ _Keith_.” Shiro was in front of him in an instant, gripping his shoulders much too tight, still stone-faced and terrifyingly serene. The only thing betraying his emotionless demeanor was the twitch at the corner of his mouth, acting independently, striking fear into Keith’s heart. “I have had to deal with you barging into my room and whining about Lance for god knows how many months now. You have to tell him, Keith. You have to get this over with.”

Keith looked up at him, shocked and trepidatious, suddenly feeling small. “But what if he doesn’t like me back, Shiro? What am I going to-“

“Then you can pine after Hunk next. Now go tell him before I kick your ass.” A swift kick of his boot and Keith was out of his room.

He’d have to remember to ask Coran if there was any way for him to add more locks to his door.

 

\--

 

Lance wrung his hands as he sat on the cold, metallic bench, watching the holographic galaxies spin and spin endlessly in front of him. None of the galaxies were immediately recognizable to him, most with odd, numeric-standardized names and incomprehensible Altean labels; but it was their mere presence that brought him comfort, that filled up the empty confines of the castle with a dim light to remind him of why he was here in the first place. He was here to deal with a threat that spanned the entire universe, somehow chosen by his weirdly-spiritual God lion to save billions of people from imminent doom. That was his ultimate duty at this point, as homesick as he was, as _terrified_ as he was – he was meant to save the people mapped out on this hologram, no matter cost.

But right now? He had a _boy_ to confess to. And that was more terrifying than anything in the universe.

He could hear the loud slap of Keith’s boots echo from down the hall, immediately causing him to stiffen, forcing him to heave a stuttering breath, close his eyes. Lance had been dealing with this for months now, the threatening staccato of his heart, the light-headedness he got whenever he daydreamed for too long about the future – but nothing trumped the flush heat that swept over him at this moment, the realization that there was no backing out. For if he didn’t do this now, Shiro most definitely _would_ – and the mere thought was enough to give him a boost of confidence when he heard those boots turn the last corner, into the observatory.

“Lance?” Keith echoed out, tentatively walking into the room full of virtual, glowing stars. “Are you here yet?”

“Yep! Yessirree!” He shot up like an arrow, grin too wide even for him, and waved Keith over with jerky movements. “And of course, I’m here _before_ you, just in case you were getting any ideas about one-up-ing me—“

“Are you really going to make a competition out of this? Now?” Keith sighed, with no annoyance in his tone, and Lance could feel himself calming down. “ _You_ were the one that asked _me_ here, I would be disappointed if you weren’t here first.”

“Oh. Yeah. Right.” Suddenly timid, Lance scratched the back of his neck, his internal panic steadily slowing down. “I was just looking at the planets and stuff while I was waiting for you. I can go ahead and turn them off, if you want.”

“It’s nice.” Keith’s smile was smile and cautious, but it did wonders to Lance’s heart. A beat of silence passed before Keith made his way towards Lance, standing an arm’s length away from him, staring up at the orbiting planets above him. “I can get why you hang out in here all the time.”

Lance hummed in agreement, watching the orbits himself, slowly spinning the display with his thin fingers. Both of them watched the moving lights, clouded by their own thoughts to do much else, sweating bullets unseen by the other and hoping to god they didn’t screw this one up.

“Hey, Lance-“

“Yo Keith-“

They gawked, stepping back from each other, and stared hard at the ground. Lance chose to fidget with his hands again while Keith played with the ends of his hair.

“You go first,” Keith uttered, refusing to make eye contact with anything but the cold hard floor.

Lance stalled, then shifted his feet awkwardly, scratching the side of his temple with his pointer finger. “Yeah. Ok. Um. So. I’ve gotta tell you something pretty big.”

Keith’s immediate response was to say ‘no shit, Lance’, but his mind was clouted with anxiety and worry and _oh god, Lance hates me, shit_ – but instead he watched, a little impatiently, as Lance looked up from his thumbs and to the observatory, chewing his bottom lip with habit.

“So.” Lance started again, shoulders slumping slightly. “You know Keith, whenever I would flirt with other people, I’d do it because there really wasn’t anything to lose. If they shoved me off, whatever, there was always someone to move onto. And it’s always been like that, since back at the Garrison. I was fine with it. Or at least, I was, until I got here.”

Absentmindedly, Lance’s thin fingers intertwined with the galaxies, spinning them with ease. Keith watched, jaw clenched tight, heartbeat going a thousand miles per hour. “I don’t know man, something changed. I used to really enjoy flirting with the aliens we would meet on different planets – and I still do, in a way – but’s different now. Now, I don’t wanna flirt because I want a date or a quick kiss or anything. I only really wanna flirt with one person, to be honest.”

Keith’s breath hitched, hope and fear overcoming his rapid pulse. “One person?”

“Yeah. One person.” Lance stopped spinning the planets and dropped his hand, turning sharp towards Keith. “That’s never really happened to me before. I don’t know what I’m supposed to do, and yet- I wanna do _everything_ , you know? I want to show them how much they mean to me. I used to hate them, and now I can’t even imagine a day without them, and it’s driving me _crazy_. Keith, listen-“

“ _Lance_ ,” Keith gasped, clenching his fists nervously. He couldn’t take it anymore. With eyes closed, he burst. “Lance, I like you. I like you a lot. And before you tell me about whoever you have a crush on, I just needed you to know-“

“Wait. Really?”

Keith opened his eyes to see Lance, soft and tepid, hands splayed in disbelief. His heart shot up to his throat and permanently lodged itself there, beating harsh and furious as Lance took a step closer to him. “You like me Keith? Seriously?”

He gulped. “Yeah. I do.”

“Wow.” And just like that, Lance melted, full of warm smiles and flushed cheeks, making Keith want to die right there, right at that spot. “Well it’s good thing that I don’t have a crush on anyone else, because holy hell do I _like_ you, Keith.”

Keith’s mouth felt dry and hollow, gasping for air like his life depended on it.

“You’re so cute when you’re flustered.” Lance reached a palm up to his cheek, stroking it tenderly, before he pressed his forehead against Keith’s with a gentle smile. “Bet you’d look cuter with your lips on mine.”

And Keith absolutely _fawned_ , leaning into the hand, grinning wide and full of adoration. “Well why don’t we check and see if that’s true?”

Keith was the one who leaned forward, months and months worth of nervous love bursting out at once, pressing his own chapped lips against supple ones. He could feel Lance smile under his mouth, and _god,_ he felt wonderful, amazing, warm, and _alive_. He hoped to God that Lance felt even a tenth of the warmth in his core, because he was overwhelmingly in _love_ and he needed to show the world.

They stayed like that for hours under the galaxies, caressing each other with curious fingertips and chaste lips, heady and drunk on each other and never wanting it to end.

 

\--

 

A week later, as Shiro casually prepared himself a bowl of space goo, he could hear clambering footsteps thrashing down the hallway.

“ _SHIRO! I’M GONNA KILL YOU! SHIIIIIIRO!!!”_

_“I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU KNEW WE LIKED EACH OTHER AND YOU DIDN’T TELL US ABOUT IT! OH MY GOD!”_

_Ah_. Well.

Shiro smirked. So they had finally figured it out.

He slid behind the wall of the door, bowl balanced precariously in his hand, as he waited for the two barrel into the room.

And boy, did they _barrel in_. “SHIRO, YOU’RE DEAD MEAT-“

The helping of goo was thrown in Keith’s face, and as he screamed and tried to recover, Shiro made a dash in the other direction, laughing wildly.

 

“OH MY GOD SHIRO, YOU CAN’T JUST-“

“HOLY SHIT BABE, DID HE SOIL YOUR PRETTY FACE? I’M GONNA SHOW HIM A PIECE OF MY MIND-“

Their voices were lost in the distance as Shiro ran, laughing all the way.

_Good god, please help us all._

**Author's Note:**

> This was so fun to write! AaaaaaAAAAH I am so happy :D
> 
> If you wanna talk or message me hmu on tumblr @gigapoodle (main blog) or @arcasangels (blog where I post my writing and stuff), I LOVE meeting new people!
> 
> A HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO EVERYONE :D


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